I’ve thought of myself as a details oriented person for as long as I can remember. Whenever they ask you about your strengths at work I nearly always say some version of, I can mind the details. It’s certainly something that I believe has helped me get where I am today.
Putting together this orchid from the Lego Botanical Collection has certainly tested my attention to detail. Mind you, it’s not as if I’ve ever claimed to be some organizational savant but I had more trouble than I would have expected following these directions. I suppose I should cut myself some slack since this is only the second Lego set I’ve ever completed but, still, it was humbling.
I’m not sure that assembling Lego sets is going to be a new hobby; as hobbies go, it’s an expensive one. I do like the Botanicals though. They’re certainly easier to care for than real plants - another hobby that I’m trying to pick up with varying degrees of success.
I do like the way this little corner of my office is looking - I have another set to do but I’m taking a bit of a break because, while I like the result, I don’t find the act of assembling the sets to be all that relaxing. And isn’t that the point of hobbies? To help you relax? Forget about stressors for a short while at least? The act of putting this together was at times confusing and frustrating. In the end, I had to Google what to do with the small pile of brown bricks because the picture in the instruction booklet was so unhelpful. So we’ll see how I’m feeling after I put the other set of flowers together. I am sort of interested in doing the LOVE set so Lego building is probably still in my future.
I’m working my way through two books right now (L is for Lawless and The Last Action Heroes) but I’m not likely to finish either by tomorrow night so now is as good a time as any to post the results of my 2023 Goodreads Challenge. I set a goal of reading 40 books in 2023 - I read 62 books in total. I had also set a goal of at least half of those books being physical books. This was an attempt at working my way through the 900+ physical books I own. I didn’t do so well with this goal as only one of the books I read this year was a physical book (Lessons in Chemistry). Not only was it a physical book but it was a hardcover at that. I don’t tend to buy/read hardcovers as they are expensive and unwieldy but I’m also not about to say no to gifted books. Oh, there’s also the third, shadow goal that’s been haunting me for ages - which is to finish The Brothers Karamazov. That also didn’t go so well. As we know (or I do but you probably don’t because why would you remember such a thing?) the farthest I’ve ever gotten is about 300 pages but my reading of the book is so sporadic that with the latest attempt, I had to start over and I’ve only gotten to page 116.
Of the 3 goals I crushed 1 so around these parts that’s a win. Why? Because I make the rules and of course the rules are going to fall in my favor.
Now, to the rest of the books, the full list is below.
The highs and lows of my reading year: Favorite read: Lessons in Chemistry. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the book and that the fantasy aspects of the story didn’t throw me. In fact, though many people online seem to find the following annoying, yes, my favorite character in the book was the dog. What can I tell you? A smart puppy is hard to resist. Remarkably Bright Creatures came in a close second. Hmm. Sensing a theme here as this book was about a smart octopus. Maybe I need to look into reading more books about smart animals?
Did Not Finish: But, Patricia, you may say, you put down a lot of books, how can this possible be a sensible category? Well, I’m a moody reader, yes, so I do tend to flit from book to book as the mood hits. But sooner or later I do finish the books. But The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins is one I have zero intention of picking back up again. I listened to the review of the movie on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour and it piqued my interest enough to borrow the book from the library. I read about 40 pages but I lost interest. It turns out I have little interest in learning how Coriolanus Snow came to be the evil president of Panem. I was interested enough to pull up the Wiki entry and read the summary, however. After reading that, I don’t feel as if I’ve missed out on anything by choosing to not go back to the book.
Most Annoying Books I Still Feel Compelled to Read: For this year this has to go to the Finlay Donovan series. I understand that if characters always made the right and safe choice that there would be no book but the decisions the main characters make in this book are so preposterous it makes you wonder how they manage to get dressed each morning never mind navigate the rest of their lives. That said, I still fully intend on reading the fourth book in the series when it comes out early in 2024.
Books that I Enjoyed in the Past but Have No Memory* of so Am Rereading: I’m working my way through the ABC series by Sue Grafton. Aside from the fat shaming I didn’t remember being so prominent in some of the books, I’m enjoying having Kinsey Milhone in my life again. Still makes me sad she didn’t get to end the series but am happy we got all the way to Y. *Slight exaggeration. I remember the salient points - she’s a detective, etc but actual details of each case escape me. I’m at L right now and the cases still don’t ring many bells. I’m curious to see how far I get into the series before the memory really kicks in. I also re-read the first three of the Children of Earth series because I get the urge to do that every once in a while. In 2022 I also started rereading the Lucas Davenport books by John Sandford. For the same reason as the Grafton books - I really enjoyed this series years ago but it’s been so long since I read the beginning of the series that I don’t remember much of the story details.
For my 2024 goals, I think I’ll up the number of books to 50. I’m going to keep the other two because I’m clearly a hopeless optimist. 2024 is the year I finish The Brothers Karamazov! And if not, then there’s always 2025! 😊
What was your favorite read of the year?
Full Reading List
The Other Family, Loretta Nyhan
Big Chicas Don’t Cry, Annette Chavez Macias
Desert Star (Renée Ballard, #5; Harry Bosch, #24; Harry Bosch Universe, #36), Michael Connelly
Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
K is for Killer, Sue Grafton
Twice a Quinceañera, Yamile Saied Méndez
L.A. Weather, María Amparo Escandón
J is for Judgement, Sue Grafton
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (Finlay Donovan, #3), Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead (Finlay Donovan, #2), Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan #1), Elle Cosimano
I is for Innocent, Sue Grafton
H is for Homicide, Sue Grafton
A Very Typical Family, Sierra Godfrey
Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver, #2), Karin Slaughter
The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks, Shauna Robinson
Last Breath (Good Daughter, #0.5), Karin Slaughter
By the Book (Meant to Be, #2), Jasmine Guillory
Pieces of Her, Karin Slaughter
How to Be a Husband, Tim Dowling
Cleaning the Gold (Jack Reacher, #23.6; Will Trent, #8.5), Karin Slaughter
The Good Daughter (The Good Daughter, #1), Karin Slaughter
The Silent Wife (Will Trent, #10), Karin Slaughter
